Mix a brilliant nanotechnology researcher with
an investor, a marketing guru and a business startup entrepreneur,
and what results can be, unfortunately, zero.

If all the entities know nothing about each other,
the outcome tends to be an opportunities lost equation.

Enter the Arlington Technology Incubator, a partnership
between the University and the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. It will
focus on technology transfers related to UTA's burgeoning scientific
and engineering research efforts, including the University's growing
nanotech and nanoscience programs.

Arlington Chamber of Commerce President Wes Jury predicts that the Arlington Technology Incubator will help
create "the next generation of technology-based companies."

Nanotechnology focuses on the manipulation of individual
atoms and molecules to create technological advances in minuscule circuits.
Nanotechnology has applications in aerospace, biomedical, electrical,
materials science and mechanical engineering and in various components
of chemistry and physics.

Technology transfer is the often complex and multi-arena
process of turning research into commercial applications.

"Research labs at universities all across the
country are doing research that may have commercial applications,"
UTA President Robert E. Witt noted. "But they don't have
the capital contacts and are not technology transfer experts."

UTA plans to become a national leader in such technology
transfers, relying heavily on the incubator to get the job done.

The first director of the Arlington Technology Incubator
is former Mayor Richard Greene, who is also an urban issues lecturer at
the University.

Greene is accustomed to big projects and to working
in multiple spheres of influence with crucial financial and political
components. He directed the effort to bring the 2012 Olympics to the region.
He was also the major player in Arlington's successful efforts
to keep the General Motors plant and for the retention of the Texas Rangers
baseball team. He will office on campus.

"The role of the incubator will be as a catalyst
for the coming together of research and development with the commercial
business sector," he said.

"One of the key elements is to involve financial
and economic analysts to bring reality to the development of ideas."

In short, Greene said, the incubator program will be
"leading edge."

"Bringing scientific research together with entrepreneurs
could do more to advance the local economy and create rewarding jobs than
anything we have ever seen," he added. "It is a unique challenge."

Too, the presence of the incubator, along with such
supporting entities as the University's newly installed supercomputer
system, should entice researchers with projects that lend themselves to
technology transfer applications.

Result? Arlington Chamber President Wes Jury predicts
that the incubator will be instrumental in creating "the next generation
of technology-based companies."

For more information, go to www.uta.edu
and use the search word "nanotechnology."